Games on subscription services sell fewer copies, CD Projekt says

CD Projekt is the latest developer-publisher to say that if a game is on a subscription service, then it'll likely make fewer game sales on a platform.

Games on subscription services sell fewer copies, CD Projekt says
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Senior Gaming Editor
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2 minutes & 30 seconds read time
TL;DR: CD Projekt strategically uses subscription services like PS Plus to boost upfront revenue and extend franchise engagement, despite temporarily reducing game sales. This model, applied to Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3, led to a 53% revenue increase in Q3 and increased sales of expansions like Phantom Liberty, supporting long-term growth.

CD Projekt executive management makes a quick connection between subscriptions and game sales, saying that introducing titles on services like PS Plus can lead to overall lower sales of the game for a period.

Games on subscription services sell fewer copies, CD Projekt says 7
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Since CD Projekt only has two franchises, The Witcher and Cyberpunk, the group has to get very creative to continue making money well after its game products are released. The Polish game-makers pull this off with a unique flywheel model that incorporates a strategically-timed series of promos, licensing deals, and transmedia content. Subscription services are a part of this model.

In a recent Q3'26 earnings report, CD Projekt leadership made an interesting concession by acknowledging that subscription services can lead to fewer games sold, but that's a trade-off the company made as part of its planned business strategy. Basically, CD Projekt will rotate older catalog games like Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 into subscription services in exchange for upfront revenue from Sony and/or Microsoft, thereby boosting revenues for the period and also elongating engagement for the franchises. CD Projekt notes that the PS Plus deal contributed to a strong +53% revenue spike in Q3.

In the Q&A transcript, co-CEO Michal Nowakowski directly references this trend, which is often referred to as "cannibalism," but is more aptly described as a kind of temporary replacement for access (the games will rotate out of the service eventually, thereby forcing a user to buy a copy of the game to keep playing their saved game).

Question 5 - After adding Cyberpunk to PS Plus subscription, has the Company seen a decline in CP sales on PS5?

Michal Nowakowski (co-CEO) - So, there's always a hit to current sales of the game when you launch on a subscription basis.

We launched the base game on PS Plus - without the expansion - however what should be taken into account when planning is that we do want to generate a surplus vs. what the game would normally at a given moment in time, and we believe we did that with this particular entry into subscription, and also created more opportunity to sell additional copies of the Phantom Liberty expansion within that time frame. So, this is beneficial for the bottom line, for the Company and for long-term performance of CP77 as well.

The last part is worth mentioning, as CD Projekt not only received a licensing payout for Cyberpunk 2077 on PlayStation Plus, but also enjoyed another unpredictable effect.

The group is selling more copies of Phantom Liberty on PlayStation as a result of Cyberpunk 2077's introduction to PS Plus, which indicates a prolonged period of access for the Extra and Premium subscriber tiers. It's possible that the users who subscribed to these tiers did so at an annual rate, which gives them plenty of time to play through Cyberpunk 2077 and the expansion.